One Day Closer

ONE DAY CLOSER

As we awoke this morning and began to prepare to come to the House of God I wonder how many of us had the thought to run through our minds that this might be the day that Jesus comes to take his Bride away? How many of us contemplated that before this day will end, we could be standing before the Judgment Seat of Christ as the Books are opened and every word and deed would be revealed for all to hear.

Those secret words that we have spoken in anger against God and man will be written down in God’s record book. The heart of every one of us will be revealed for just what it is. Our deepest desires will be made known and the thoughts and intents of our hearts will be interpreted.

Where will we stand in that day? How shall we behave when we behold his glory?

We sing the song, “I Can Only Imagine”, and yet can we really imagine what it will be like? I do not believe that the finite mind of man can even begin to fathom the awesome power and absolute holiness of our God. We can guess, we can try to imagine, but we can’t even begin to know what that day will be like!

It will be a day of rejoicing. It will be a glorious day, and a great homecoming, and a day that will we will receive our crown of righteousness at the hand of our Lord Jesus Christ.

There will be praise and worship that will break forth spontaneously and continue to reverberate through all of Heaven as the shouts of victory and praise rise like crescendos before the Throne of God. No one will need to tell us to raise our hands then. No one will have to lead us in the songs of praise. No music will be necessary though there may well be music in the air.

That great moment when we realize that every trial is past, every sickness is gone forever, death can touch us no more, and the final victory has been won, will be more than we could every imagine.

Think of this! If you were to awake tomorrow morning with every debt paid, all sickness healed, no sadness in your heart, no worries for your future, no concern for anything or anyone, all your troubles are gone, there is no temptation to sin, and no need to get up and go to your job ever again because everything you could ever desire was made possible by a very wealthy donor, what would you feel like?

I hear of those who win lotteries, or who are chosen as recipients of huge amounts of money through some contest, as they rejoice and shout for joy. It’s hard to imagine anyone who would not get excited about winning or receiving wealth beyond their greatest dreams. Can you just picture them calming saying thanks and without any emotion at all just closing the door in the face of those who gave them the check? I wonder if the TV cameras would record that scene? Even if I were to be cool, calm and collected end front of the camera for the sake of propriety, look out when the door shuts!

Folks - that day is coming! We are one day closer to the coming of the Lord to catch His Bride away. We are one day closer to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. We are one day closer to the fulfillment of every word of the Revelation when Jesus finally reclaims what is rightfully his through his victory at the cross.

Yes, we are One Day Closer to that great and wonderful day! Are you ready for that day? Is your heart cleansed by the Blood of the Lamb? Are your sins washed away? Have you been born again by the Spirit of the Lord?

There are many who sit in our churches week after week and never give a single thought to the coming of the Lord. Each day passes like the last and there is no change in their heart. I have never understood how anyone can sit in God’s House, hearing the Word of the Lord and know of his soon coming and yet there seems to be no change in their lives at all.

It seems that the more they hear the Word of God, the less effect it has upon them. Their hearts are stone and that stony heart can only be broken by the power of God as we willingly allow God to break us.

They are like the evil servant of Matthew 24:48-51, "But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."